


Starlight Rendezvous

by petitmelon



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Cute and Steamy, F/M, Vignette, collection, it's a bunch of little things that hopefully will make a big thing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-12
Updated: 2019-09-12
Packaged: 2020-10-14 22:01:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20608016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/petitmelon/pseuds/petitmelon
Summary: A series of short vignettes centered around the concept of Byleth choosing Blue Lions and having a secret relationship with Claude. T rating, for now, I may do a more explicit chapter later, que sera, sera.





	1. Chapter 1

Timeline/Spoilers: Set just after making a house choice.

* * *

  
  
Nights belonged to few at the monastery. With everything that had to be done during the day, most lacked the energy to stay up longer than that. Thanks to hectic days and nights as mercenaries, Byleth’s sleep schedule was not accustomed to a normal daybreak-to-afternoon sun job. She often found herself yawning at midday sun or forcing herself to stay awake during the evening sunset. Not enough time passed since her arrival to become used to a new schedule.

The porcelain full moon coated the stone walls in silver. Not a single soul stirred. The streets that were full of loud students during the day were empty. Byleth took a deep breath. It felt good to be out alone in peace. Often times Jeralt and the crew would spend their evenings drinking, singing, and exaggerating won battles and schemes. Some nights it was fun to join them, though she didn’t partake in nearly the same quantity of alcohol. Other nights she wanted to be alone with the stars.

Too bad there weren’t any fields of long grass to run through her fingers or flower fields here. She strolled downstairs past the student dorm rooms.

There was a light emitting from the greenhouse.

Peculiar.

She hastened her pace and opened the greenhouse door. Claude was crouched next to some white flowers, carefully pulling off a single petal from random blooms and placing them into a small glass vial.

“Claude?”

He made no motion of being shocked at her intrusion or trying to hide what he did. He pushed a piece of cork to seal the vial and stood. “Awful late, isn’t it, Professor?” Claude greeted. “Come to voice regrets for not choosing the best house? I won’t hold it against you if you've realized your mistake.”

“I cannot go back on my word.”

He shrugged. “Worth a try.”

“What brings you here this late?”

“Do you want to know?”

His voice had a playful tone and he seemed excited to share. True, he wasn’t her student, but she should probably indulge his interests. That’s what a good teacher would do, right? She knew nothing about being a teacher, but it sounded like a good thing to do.

He shook the vial. The white petals tumbled from end to end as he proclaimed, “This little token is my final ingredient to a pretty potent paralysis poison.”

She blinked. “Poison?”

“Don’t worry, I won’t use it on anyone here. I elected to restrict monastery usage to purely digestive poisons before I arrived.”

He _elected_ to restrict himself to _what_?

“The greenhouse has a lot of useful materials for the taking. This sort of thing would cost a pretty hefty bag of gold where I came from.”

That begged the question, “Where exactly do you plan on using it?”

The corner of his mouth lifted into a smirk. “Want to see it in action?” When she didn’t respond immediately, he twirled the vial between his fingers and tucked it back into his pocket. “I may give my arrows a little dip in it for the mock battle. Not too often I get an entire field of test subjects that I can observe the before and after effects.”

“That would be considered cheating.”

“Would it now?” he sighed. “Battles aren’t clean things, Professor. I’d thought you know that.”

“It wouldn’t be fair. Half these kids can’t swing a sword properly.”

His eyes seemed to light up. “You're objecting to lack of experience, not my methods, correct?”

Byleth crossed her arms and gave him a stern look in reply.

“You know, where I come from poison is a common method of espionage and battle. Here in Fodlan, it’s considered a lady’s gambit. All the better, no one will suspect me.”

“Where are you from?”

“Professor! That’s not a question you ask on the first date.”

Byleth’s brows bunched in confusion. “Sorry?” Half the students she spoke with would tell her their entire family tree given a breath’s chance, especially nobility. Gossip floated around about his parentage and his sudden appearance when House Reigan needed an heir, but no one seemed to actually know where he came from.

“Get to know me a little better and I’ll keep your secrets.” He winked.

He said nothing of telling his own.

He stretched and made an exaggerated yawn. “Well, I’ll be going now. You should go to bed too. Early start tomorrow and all that.” He slinked past her and out the door.

What an _interesting_ person to say the least.

He did have a point, though. It was late and tomorrow they were doing swordcraft training. Felix made it known yesterday he intended on embarrassing her in front of the entire class. The challenge didn’t bother her; she knew her fair share of boasting idiots from her mercenary days and the quickest way to shut them up involved a swift swipe of a sword to the shin. Which would be difficult to do if she was sluggish from sleep deprivation. Unlike some of her other students, Felix knew how to swing a sword.

* * *

“Professor,” Seteth called.

“Yes?” Byleth asked as she approached.

He held up a small glass bottle filled with a deep violet liquid. “I found this in the cathedral earlier this morning. Do you have any idea of who it belongs to?”

Unmarked bottle, mysterious liquid inside that gives a sense of foreboding upon seeing it? _Claude. That is most definitely Claude’s._

“I believe it’s Hanneman’s. He spoke to me about it the other day.” She held out her hand. “I’ll take it to him for you. I need to visit his office anyway. He wants to run me through his crest analyzer again.”

“Thank you, Professor. My schedule is full and I don’t have time to play lost and found.” His footsteps clicked against the stone floor as he left. Byleth held up the vial to the light. The liquid had a silver shimmer to it that looked rather pretty in the light. She tucked it into her pocket with the other trinkets she found along her morning walk.

“_You lied just now,”_ Sothis stated.

Byleth bristled at the voice. Sothis scolded her before for visually jolting at hearing her voice, but honestly, who wouldn’t jump when a stern voice boomed in your head out of nowhere, mercenary training or not?

“I did.”

“_Why?_”

Why did she lie? Probably because Seteth would punish him somehow and if her hunch proved wrong he would be unfairly punished? That had to be it. She voiced that reasoning aloud, which earned a huff in reply. Sothis didn’t buy it. That was her problem, then. Byleth shrugged and kept walking.

* * *

“Professor!”

Byleth turned around. No one was there. _I thought I heard Claude?_

She turned back around and nearly collided into Claude. She gasped and stumbled backwards.

He stroked his chin. “No change.”

She straightened her jacket and composed herself. “No change in what?”

“Nothing, just testing something. Later!”

She watched him saunter away. Definitely a weird boy.

As she began to resume her trek to the classroom, a trickling feeling of forgetting something drifted into her mind. She reached into her pocket and felt the glass vial. Maybe next time.

* * *

“Ah, roasted pheasant with berry sauce, one of my favorites,” Claude said as he sat his plate of food in front of Byleth. “You don’t mind, do you? I’m not in your class and all.”

She shook her head and gestured to sit.

“You’re really something, Professor. I can’t tell what you’re thinking at all.” He pointed his fork at her. “Like, are you annoyed? Pleased? Neutral? I can’t tell. How do you feel about me asking to sit here?”

She shrugged. “Am I supposed to be bothered?”

“Not my place to say.” He took a bite of food. “I heard Felix ranting earlier about you.” A boyish grin appeared on his face. “You really got under his skin. How’d you do it?”

“He’s upset because I beat him when he challenged me to a duel.”

“So, he is as single-minded as I thought.”

Byleth cocked her head to the side. “Is that so?”

“I have an idea of what makes everyone tick and how to move their hands if need be.” He put his elbows on the table and leaned forward, giving the same smile as he did when they first met, friendly and charming on the surface but hiding his true intentions behind his gaze. “Except you, of course.”

“I don’t know if I should be flattered or terrified.”

He winked. “Why not both?”

“Ah, that reminds me.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out the vial. “This belongs to you, I presume?”

He grinned. “Ah, Professor, you found it!”

He reached for it, but she held it taught and started into his shining brown eyes. “What poison is in it?”

A smirk appeared on his face as he wrapped his fingers around hers. “If I said it was an aphrodisiac?”

“Then Sylvain would be your best friend and since I don’t see him anywhere...”

Claude’s lips pursed together and his shoulders shook, withholding a laugh.

“Any reason why you’re sitting with _our_ professor the day before the mock battle?” Dimitri said as he slid into the seat next to Claude. "What are you doing?"

Claude released her hand and stabbed a piece of pheasant with his fork, swirling it in the crimson sauce. "Just trying to wrestle some information out of her." He popped the pheasant into his mouth and smiled as he chewed.

Dimitri's brows arched. “You’re not giving away our strategy, are you Professor?”

"Of course not," Byleth replied.

“Dimitri, you may be a genius, but you're a predictable one. I’m certain the Golden Deer will defeat you tomorrow, secret strategy or no.” Claude eyed Byleth’s closed fist and winked. “I’ll see you around, Professor. Enjoy the rest of your meal.”

He picked up his plate and walked off.

“I don’t get him at all,” Dimitri said as he watched Claude leave.

Byleth pocketed the bottle. “Same.”

“About tomorrow, I’ve been thinking...”

* * *

By now, late evenings were time for a peaceful walk. All the students demanded her time and energy during the day and nightfall became the only time she could relax. She put on her jacket and picked up the small bottle of poison left on her desk. Tonight Claude would be out and about. Much like herself, he probably couldn't rest before a big event.

Her footsteps echoed in the empty halls. The few guards on night duty nodded to her as she walked by. She didn't fancy going into the cathedral itself; she wasn't religious or a followerer of the Goddess, but the view from the cathedral's perimeter was lovely at night.

She was hardly surprised as she rounded the corner to see a certain man leaning over the over the railing. She thought to step lightly to surprise him the way he tried to surprise her, but he turned around as she came near, lazy smile spreading across his face.   
  
“Fancy meeting you here, Professor.” He rested his back against the railing. “Do you ever sleep?”

“Do you?”

“If I did, I wouldn’t get to meet you like this.”

She brushed off his flirty comment. Sylvain threw one a minute at her daily and after a single afternoon she became immune to their effect. “Nervous about tomorrow?”

He scoffed. “No. I just thought I’d see you here so I decided to take a stroll. Finish our conversation from earlier.”

She pulled the vial out of her pocket and held it out.

His brows arched. “Did you carry it everywhere with you?”

Byleth shook her head. “It seems I’m more likely to see you during nightfall than daylight.”

“Agreed.” He took it from her hand and put it in his pocket. “Can I test something on you?”

“Is it a poison?”

“No. Can you hold out your arm?”

_What on earth is he thinking? _She held out her arm. He pushed up her sleeve and pinched her.

“Hey!” she exclaimed, pulling her arm back.

“Do you feel pain?”

“Of course I do.”

“You know, people make some sort of face reflexively. You didn’t.”

“Is that a problem?”

He shook his head. “It’s just interesting. And rather unnerving, if I’m honest. I guess that’s why you’re called Ashen Demon.”

“I’ve always disliked that name.”

“Yeah?” He leaned back and craned his neck to the stars. Gentle light cast an ethereal glow over his body. “I like it. It’s fitting for a mercenary. Strikes fear into the heart of the enemy before the battle has even begun.”

“Is that what it does to you?”

He smiled. “I’d like to say no, but it would be terrifying striking at an enemy who doesn’t show they feel pain. I do wish you were on my side tomorrow.”

Byleth sighed and put most of her body weight over the railing, staring down into the dark underbrush. "It pushes everyone away, not just enemies."

"Does it?" He arched an eyebrow and pointed at his chest. "I'm here, aren't I?"

"Are you trying to be friendly or trying to figure me out?"

"A little of column A, a little of column B, and I'll have you know there's also a column C."

"Column C?"

"That’s a secret.” He winked.

She pushed herself off and adjusted her jacket. “Good luck tomorrow.”

“Wishing luck upon your enemy? Don’t you think that’s a bad move?”

She shrugged. “You’ll need it more than me.”

He laughed, open and loud, a wonderful sound that reverberated in her bones. The corners of his eyes crinkled as he smiled. “You’re something else, Teach. I wish all the luck to you tomorrow as well.”


	2. Wind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chronologically follows the first chapter

* * *

Spoilers: Chapter Three/Lord Lonato monthly mission

* * *

“_Going out again to meet that boy?”_ Sothis asked.

Byleth locked the door behind her. “I’m just taking a walk.”

“_You must walk to go where he is, yes.”_

Byleth ignored her remark and began her nightly stroll by making her way to the chapel.

“_He is not one of your students.”_

“I know.”

“_Yet you will go out of your way to see him.”_

“I take a walk every evening before bed,” she insisted. “Today, I… I need to clear my mind.”

“_Yes, that Rhea has forced you into something excessively cruel, hasn’t she?”_

Byleth nodded.

_"I'll leave you to your thoughts, in that case."_

“I thought it would be warmer,” she muttered as she rubbed her arms. The stillness of the monastery failed to quell the storm of her nerves. She needed to calm herself before tomorrow; despite the apparent lack of emotion on her face the students picked up on her own unease and it reflected in their actions. Ashe, normally one of the sweetest students, had mostly withdrawn, wearing his normal persona as an act when someone remarked on it. She needed to be their wind, guiding them and lifting them to a better place.

Hard when she couldn’t do it for herself.

Her feet carried her aimlessly through the monastery. She looped up, through the cathedral, down through the gardens, through the stables, the front entrance, but she still couldn’t ease her nerves. As she walked through to the fishing pond, she saw a familiar figure standing on the bank.

A small part of her eased at the sight. She walked up next to him.

He acknowledged her with a smile. “Evening, Teach. I’d say fancy to meet you out here but it’s not a chance meeting anymore, is it?” He tossed a stone and it skipped over the fish pond, sending ripples through the reflected crescent moon. “I heard about your mission.”

She replied with a sound of acknowledgment.

“It’s bothering you, isn’t it?”

_How did he know? _She stared at him. No one else, not even her father, noticed her distress. Yet, she walks up to him and he reads her mind better than Sothis?

“You don’t have emotions that show on your face, but I think I’m beginning to piece out what you’re thinking. Or maybe we just think alike, so I can be confident what I think is what you also think.” He wound back his arm and threw another stone. This one lasted fifteen skips before it dropped into the water. “It’s rather strange. Ashe is Lonato’s adopted son, right? Why would Lady Rhea jeopardize the mission’s success by making him kill his father? Our mission is just routing more bandits and I’m sure Edelgard’s is similar. Lady Rhea’s only prerogative is to protect the church, which is what makes her decision to send you out there all the more baffling.”

“I’ve thought similar.” His words almost mirrored her thoughts exactly.

“What will you do if Ashe turns against you or can’t fight?”

She wrenched her hands together. “He’s my student, so in the end, I would do what I can to protect him. If I had to ki— if I had to take a sword against Jeralt, I...”

He picked up another stone and threw it, but it didn’t skim across the water’s surface, instead making a loud splash and sinking to the bottom. He picked up another rock, fist clenched around it.

“I can’t go against the church.” She crouched and ran her fingers through the cool water.

“I know,” he whispered, soft enough that he probably didn’t mean her to actually hear it. He threw the rock to the waterfall.

The only sound between them was the soft roar of water. For the first time since they met, he said nothing, and she felt grateful. Despite being a lord, he possessed as little power as she did. There was nothing they could do about it.

She shook the water off her fingers and rubbed her cold arms. Despite the season, there was a chill in the air. She left her jacket back in her room earlier, thinking the weather fine. Maybe it still was, and the problem was her. Thankfully it wasn’t too much of a walk back. “I’m going to take my leave. Thanks for hearing me out.”

Claude unzipped his jacket and placed it over her shoulders. His arm lingered before drawing back. She looked up at him, surprised, and he wrapped one arm around her shoulders, squeezing it. “I’ll walk you back.”

Perhaps she should have pushed his arm off, but the way she fit in the tiny nook of his body felt comforting. His steady heartbeat had a calming effect on her nerves, easing them back into something she could tame.

His jacket smelled of pine needles and musk. She tugged it closer to her despite not feeling cold. He must have assumed she still felt a chill because he rubbed her arm and pulled her closer. He kept pace with her despite being taller. They took their time going up the steps and walking through the grass. It was a short walk, but they took far longer to reach their location than either would on a normal day.

All too soon, they reached the last room of the dorms. Neither made any immediate movement. The seconds ticked by, filling the space with an awkward silence. She was a professor. He was a student. Yet, to anyone else, would they see that? She finally forced herself to move.

He pulled the two halves of his jacket taught, cocooning her in it. “I’m not a part of your class. Nor do I report to Rhea.” He leaned down and pressed his forehead against hers, whispering, “You can show me the sides of yourself you have to hide from them.” In a single movement, he pulled the jacket off her and put it on. “Night, Teach.” He turned and walked away, waving as he left.

She watched until the darkness swallowed his form. She touched her forehead. A light breeze flowed through the air.

* * *

Several nights ago, Claude von Riegan made a huge mistake.

It started off simple.

Byleth looked cold.

He gave her his jacket to be warm.

But as he put his arm around her to place the jacket, he decided to leave it there.

She just looked so small inside it.

Before, she was a force. She had power, grace, an air of poise that commanded those around her even when she didn’t realize it.

But inside his jacket? The way those ocean-colored eyes stared up at him, the way her soft hair danced in the breeze, all while wearing something irrevocably _his?_

He ran his hand through his hair and exhaled slowly.  
  
It was night, far too late to be up, yet he was. He had things to do. Books to read. Nooks to search. Secrets to find. Things to borrow for an indeterminate period of time. For his dream to come true, he needed to plant the seeds that would bloom in the future.

But now he couldn’t put puzzle a version of his dream without her being a part of it.

And that was a huge mistake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This mission and Sylvain's truly bothered me in the game. Those poor kids being forced to do something like that... And especially the way Ashe reacts after. Breaks my heart. I never warmed up to Rhea because of it, despite all the things we learn later. how dare u hurt my cinnamon roll


End file.
